November 30) the 'Koyasan one day ticket' may be purchased. This is similar to the ticket above but also includes connection to a single private railway, giving good value for money. For example, Hankyu (�3000), Hanshin (�2900), Keihan (�3000), Kintetsu (�2980), etc.(Japanese)
JR passes cannot be used for the journey; the closest JR station is in Hashimoto, some 20 km away.
By car
If you have your own set of wheels, you can also head east towards Ise or south to Ryujin Onsen and southern Wakayama. Both roads are small and there is no public transportation, but daring souls might try hitching.
On foot
Before the train and cable car connection, which was built in the early 20th century, the only way to reach Mt. Koya was via the ancient pilgrim trail called the Ch?ishi-michi which is still maintained and marked with stone pillars every ch? (about 108 meters) - these have given the trail its name. It begins in the town of Kudoyama, which is a stop on the Nankai train line to Mt. Koya, at the (rather interesting in itself) Jison temple. To reach the temple from the station follow the main road downhill and across the bridge keeping an eye out for the green signage on the left. Note that free detailed English and Japanese hiking maps are available from Jison. If you want to do the Japanese thing, you can pick up a souvenier stamp rally card too - note the 7th and final stamp can only be obtained during business hours.
The trail is about 22km long, ascends about 700 meters (most of this in the first and last quarters) and can be walked in about 7 hours plus resting time, offering a very rewarding hiking experience. In reality, you'll likely want to take the side-detour roughly 1/3 of the way up, adding a third world heritage site on to your journey as well as an extra 2-3km depending upon approach. Local signage claims there is guest house accomodation at this point but this is unconfirmed.
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